The present invention relates to data compression, and more specifically, this invention relates to video multicasting with multiple simultaneous qualities of service.
As mobile devices become more prevalent, users have developed an increased reliance on such mobile devices for streaming online content. Accordingly, being able to deliver video content having high quality, while using a reduced amount of network bandwidth, and at low latency are desired selling points for service providers. Data compression is often incorporated in an effort to achieve such characteristics.
The process of reducing the size of a data file is referred to as data compression. In signal processing, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction involves encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Data compression can be either lossy or lossless. Lossless data compression reduces bits by identifying and eliminating statistical redundancy for which no information is lost. However, lossy data compression reduces the number of bits by removing some of the less relevant information.
Data compression reduces the amount of resources used to store and transmit data. Computational resources are consumed in the compression process and, usually, in the reversal of the compression process (decompression). The architecture of data compression schemes involves trade-offs among various factors, including the degree of compression, the amount of distortion introduced, and the computational resources required to compress and decompress the data. As such, conventional video compression techniques are unable to achieve video content having high quality with some assurance of service quality, while also using a reduced amount of network bandwidth, and at low latency.